Five days ago, D-Von Dudley announced that he was retiring from in-ring competition. Debuting in 1992 and wrestling much of his early career as A-Train, his in-ring career spanned 24 years and resulted in 23 major tag team championships as a part of the Dudley Boyz and Team 3D with Bully Ray.
His last WWE match was during the summer of 2016. In September, he would join WWE as a producer backstage. As a result, he has been seen on weekly TV a few times. Plus, he was done in-ring almost four years ago. D-Von Dudley’s final match was in December of that year for House of Glory.
D-Von Dudley and Wrestling Retirements
Announcing it now is like taking an expired coupon somewhere, expecting to get the deal, becoming indignant, and no one cares. Sure, some fans care that D-Von is retired but most of us figured he retired long ago because we haven’t seen him on TV since then. It’s not even that most of us don’t care that he retired, it’s just “Why announce it now?”
Now, in wrestling when you hear that someone is retiring, half the time there’s a “Yeah, right” attitude that comes with it. After all, this is an industry that has seen people retire only to return in under two years’ time. I guess the only thing that would extend that retirement is—I don’t know—serving in public office at a national level.
Even then, that’s just for the duration of the term. Two of my favorite wrestlers of all time—Atsushi Onita and Great Sasuke—came out of retirement sometime after they finished their political careers. Hell, Onita has beaten Terry Funk’s retirement record.
As for D-Von Dudley, he’s enjoying his role as a producer and remaining in the business. I’d say that’s great. Retirement without something to do afterward can drive people up the wall. Plus, D-Von’s been giving back to the business by helping out after leaving the ring. I mean, it would probably count as “help” if he wasn’t on contract getting paid to do what he does but he’s managed to find a way to remain in the business.
He’s 47-years old now and probably could’ve continued his in-ring career but at that age it’s not the best decision. Plus, WWE doesn’t have a need for him to be in the ring. However, he does have decades of experience both in putting a match that tells a story together and in dealing with the backstage environment, so his career out of the ring could be the role of his wrestling career.
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